Not On Your Own Anymore
by LesMisfit
Summary: Kurt and Rachel are cast in a production of Les Miserables at NYU which, due to a request by the sponsor, allows Kurt to sing the role of Eponine. When he lays eyes on Blaine Anderson, the show's Marius, however, he quickly finds that acting like he's in love with the boy might not require much acting at all.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Well, I've finally gone and published something on here after all these months of being strictly a reader. Yay, me! Anyway, I'm always obsessed with _Glee_ and I've just recently become obsessed with _Les Miserables_; from that union, this story was born! I'm taking summer classes right now, so my weekdays are a bit hectic, so I'm shooting for updating the story at least every week. I don't anticipate this to be a very long story at all, but hopefully I can build a base of readers who will stick with me when I move on to other projects. So, yeah, please read and review, let me know what's working and if anything needs work :)  
**

**P.S. I realize this first chapter involves much, much more "K-" than "-laine," but stick with it. It'll get there ;)  
**

* * *

_Dear Lord, will she ever stop talking?_

Kurt was trying to be interested in whatever the hell Rachel had been droning on and on about for the last fifteen minutes—he was listening enough to know that she was complaining about Finn, again, but he hadn't paid attention to exact details—but after his long day of classes, all he wanted to do was get back to the apartment the two of them shared so he could rest.

They took the shortcut through the University Center. Since he wasn't listening to Rachel anyway, Kurt let his eyes wander to the row of bulletin boards hanging on the wall to his right as they walked down the hallway. Scanning the hundreds of flyers, Kurt noticed all the usual suspects: advertisements for tutoring services, used textbooks, and guitar lessons and flyers for parties, club events, and more parties, etcetera, etcetera.

Just as Kurt was about to divert his attention away from the bulletin boards, a bright green flyer caught his eye.

OPEN CALL AUDITIONS FOR SPECIAL PRODUCTION OF_ LES MISÉRABLES_

"…and so I told Finn that I—"

"Shut up, Rachel," Kurt said as he quickly walked over to the board on which the flyer was hung.

Rachel scoffed. "I'm sorry, Kurt, if I was boring you, but—"

Suddenly very excited, Kurt snatched the flyer from the board and held it in front of Rachel's face. "Look at this!" He held it there for a few seconds, and when he moved it away, she looked just as thrilled as he felt. He moved back to stand beside her as they both read the rest of the flyer together.

OPEN CALL AUDITIONS FOR SPECIAL PRODUCTION OF_ LES MISÉRABLES_

HOSTED BY THE NYU THEATER DEPARTMENT

SPONSORED BY THE LGBTQ SOCIETY

AUDITIONS WILL BE HELD EVERY DAY NEXT WEEK

WE'D LOVE TO SEE YOU THERE

Kurt and Rachel looked at each other and squealed happily at the same time.

"We have _got_ to audition!" Rachel practically yelled. "You would be an excellent Marius."

Kurt looked at her incredulously. "Rachel, come on. I can't pull off those male lead roles; I've accepted this. Remember the debacle that was my audition for Tony when McKinley did _West Side Story_? Seriously, I would be ecstatic just to be cast as part of the chorus in _Les Mis_. I mean, of course it would be amazing to play Marius, but—"

"Oh my God, Kurt, you could play Éponine!" Rachel looked up at him, wide-eyed. Now Kurt was confused.

"Um, thanks for that, Rach, but in case you forgot, that's a female role."

She smirked and shook her head. "Not in this production, it's not. Read the fine print." She pointed to the very bottom of the flyer, and Kurt saw a bit of text he had missed before.

**NOTE: **In this production, as per the request of our sponsor, the role of Éponine will be gender-swapped. We will only be auditioning males for the renamed role of Everard.

Kurt couldn't believe what he was seeing; it was too good to be true. He read the note again. Yep, it was there. It was his turn to look at Rachel with wide eyes.

"This is unbelievable!" He broke into a smile. "This is exactly the type of production that I need right now."

Rachel smiled back at him and they pulled each other into a tight hug. "Kurt, this is so perfect!"

When they broke apart, Kurt suddenly looked concerned. "Oh, shit," he began, "what about you? Isn't Éponine, like, your dream role?"

Rachel simply shrugged. "Meh, I can try out for Fantine. Besides, I'll have more chances to play the role. This is clearly a sign that it's your time to shine."

Kurt looked back at Rachel, relieved that she wasn't upset.

_God knows I couldn't handle another verbal tirade this evening._

"Come on," he said. "Let's get back to the apartment. Auditions are next week, so we'd better start rehearsing our songs." They each took the other's hand and hurried home.

* * *

It was the day of Kurt's audition. He stood backstage in the NYU auditorium, waiting for his name to be called, thinking about the past few days. It had seemed like he would never decide on a song to sing. The obvious choice would be to sing something from _Les Mis_, but he didn't want to seem like he hadn't put any thought into his audition. Finally, he decided on "What I Did For Love" from _A Chorus Line_: it wasn't too safe, it was emotional, and, most importantly, it showed that he had the range to sing Éponine's songs. After hours of practice, he felt pretty comfortable with his rendition.

Rachel's audition had been the previous day. She auditioned for Fantine with a beautiful "I Dreamed a Dream." Unlike Kurt, she wasn't worried about the song choice seeming safe because she knew that her voice would "stun them so much that it wouldn't matter shat song she was singing." Kurt peeked out from behind the curtain and saw her sitting in the same spot he had sat in for her the day before.

The boy ahead of Kurt was just finishing up his song. When the music ended, he heard a voice say, "Thank you. Next!" It took Kurt a few seconds to remember that that was his cue, but he swiftly strode out onto the stage and looked out at the seating area. He took notice of a few people, besides Rachel, who were there to watch the auditions, but his gaze soon fell upon the three people seated behind a desk directly in front of the stage.

_These are the people I really need to impress._

Kurt put his hands on his hips and flashed them his most dazzling smile. "Hello. I am Kurt Hummel, auditioning for the role of Everard—very interesting artistic choice, by the way—and today I will be singing "What I Did For Love."

One of the three, a man wearing a vest with curly, dark blonde hair, gave a warm smile and said, "Whenever you're ready." Kurt took a deep breath, looked to his left and nodded at the sound technician, giving him permission to start his instrumental track he had brought. The music started, Kurt closed his eyes, and he began to sing.

"Kiss today goodbye…"

His voice sounded clear and beautiful, and he knew he had picked the perfect song. At that point, he let everything go and just sang the song just the way he had rehearsed it. In the middle, he swelled right along with the music and belted out the powerful notes with perfect pitch and emotion. Finally, before he knew it, the track was winding down and he was singing the last lines.

"Won't forget, can't regret what I did for love."

Kurt looked back at the three people in front of him, remembering they were there. The man had a look of pure amazement. The woman to his left, a thin redhead with large eyes, looked to be on the verge of tears. The man on the other side of her, wearing all black with short, black, spiked up black hair, looked as if he was trying as hard as he could and failing to remain stoic and not look as astonished as the other two judges. Kurt just stood there taking in their reactions. Finally, the man with the black hair spoke up.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. Hummel, but you're a countertenor, are you not?"

Kurt smiled. "Why, yes, I am."

The three all gave each other a look, the man with the curly hair mumbling, "Impressive."

Kurt couldn't have been more pleased with their response. The judges all scribbled some notes quickly on some paper in front of them before the woman looked up. "Thank you _very_ much," she said, "That will be all."

Kurt smiled again and gave a little bow. "Thank you all," he said, "and have a good day." With that, he walked briskly backstage the way he had come. When he went back into the main area of the auditorium, Rachel was already there waiting for him. She ran towards him and pulled him into a tight hug.

"You were _in_credible!" she screamed as they let go and started to head home. "If you don't get the role, I swear, I will refuse to accept the role as Fantine."

Kurt chuckled. "Rachel, no you won't."

She sighed. "Well, you're right, but I'll be very upset, and you should be too, because you _killed it_!"

Kurt's smile widened then. "I did, didn't I?" He bumped his hip lightly into hers and they kept walking, laughing to themselves. "Nothing left to do now," Kurt said, "but wait for the cast list to be posted on Friday."

* * *

Doing nothing but waiting was easier said than done. Kurt felt confident about his chances of getting the role, he really did, but he knew there was no way he could shake his nerves until he saw the cast list. He spent the couple of days before Friday feeling jittery and on edge, just counting the minutes until he could find out whether he had been cast or not.

_And if I don't get Everard_, he told himself, _I'm sure I at least will get a chorus role like I had thought about in the first place._

He _really_ wanted Everard, though. It was his dream to play a starring role.

Finally, Friday rolled around. Time seemed to pass even more slowly, as Kurt ignored his professors' lectures and stared at the clocks on the walls of his classrooms. Once his final class for the day was over, he practically sprinted to the auditorium. Rachel wasn't there yet, so he waited outside the front doors. Kurt had only been waiting about five minutes when she showed up, but it felt more like five hours.

"Rachel, where the hell have you been?" he hissed.

"I'm sorry, but my professor held us back a few minutes longer than normal," she told him. "Anyways, I'm here now, so let's go look at the list."

They walked inside, hand in hand. There on the wall in front of them was a piece of the same bright green paper that the flyer had been printed on. They could see the list of roles and names in black ink, but could not read it from that distance, so they walked closer to it. Kurt and Rachel both closed their eyes when they got right in front of the list. Giving Rachel's hand a squeeze, Kurt opened his eyes. There, third from the top was the casting for Fantine.

FANTINE – RACHEL BERRY

Kurt gasped and looked at Rachel. She still hadn't opened her eyes, making Kurt laugh. He grabbed her shoulders and shook her lightly.

"Rachel, you got it! You got Fantine!"

Her eyes flew open and she looked at the list. "Oh my God!"

She jumped up and down a little bit and Kurt gave her a hug.

"Congratulations!" Smiling, they both looked back on the list and kept reading.

COSETTE – QUINN FABRAY

MARIUS – BLAINE ANDERSON

Kurt stopped reading.

_Hm, sexy name_. _Probably straight, though. Damn it. Once again, a straight man will be the object of my unrequited love. At least it'll just be acting this time_.

Kurt was broken out of his daze when he suddenly heard Rachel's glass-shattering scream right beside him. He gave her a terrified look and was about to ask what the matter was when he saw that she was pointing to the list again with a hand over her mouth.

"Look, Kurt, oh my God!"

Kurt had been so wrapped up in his musings over the name of Blaine Anderson that he had forgotten to keep on reading. He looked down to the next listing on the page.

EVERARD – KURT HUMMEL

Kurt's own scream at that moment rivaled the one Rachel had just unleashed a minute before. Immediately, he scooped her up into a huge hug that she returned wholeheartedly.

"Holy shit! Holy shit! I got it, Rachel! I'm playing Everard!"

They looked at each other again and couldn't contain themselves. They both squealed like schoolgirls and ran outside. Once they calmed down a bit, they decided to treat themselves to a celebratory dinner. They gave a toast to themselves. Kurt could hardly believe that he was finally getting his chance.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Wow, it does feel really good to get all those story alerts! Well, it seems I managed to pound out another chapter way before I thought I would have time to. w00t! Anyway, we get to meet the rest of the cast in this chapter. I thought about making up a bunch of OCs, but then I thought bringing in some familiar faces would make it a bit more fun :) Also, no one has expressed any confusion about the gender-swap concept, but in case there was any, it gets explained in this chapter. So, again, reviews are always appreciated. Enjoy!**

* * *

Kurt didn't have much more time for celebration, though, because rehearsals for the show began the following Monday. After their classes had finished, he and Rachel made their way together to the auditorium. Kurt couldn't wait to meet all the other cast members, especially this Blaine Anderson.

"I hope everyone will be cool and nice and that there won't be any major drama," Kurt admitted. "I just really want this to be a fun time for me, and you, and everyone involved."

Rachel let out a small laugh. "Kurt, there's about as much chance that there won't be any drama among a group of thespians and singers as there is that you and I will both win the lottery tomorrow. I do share your sentiments, however, and hope that everyone will put forth the effort to make this the best _Les Misérables_ that NYU has ever seen."

They looked at each other and smiled, continuing on their way. Once they finally got into the auditorium, Kurt noticed that a few of the cast members had already arrived and were gathered around in the seating closest to the stage, chatting amongst themselves. No one noticed Kurt and Rachel's arrival immediately, but when the door shut behind them, everyone turned to the direction of the noise and saw them standing there.

"Hey, guys!" greeted a boy with shaggy blonde hair, waving them over. "Join us."

Kurt and Rachel smiled and walked over to the group. Once they finally reached the area everyone was sitting in, the blonde boy who had spoken to them got up and held out his hand.

"Hi, I'm Sam, the Enjolras for the show," he said, shaking Rachel's hand first. "And you are?"

Rachel smiled at him sweetly. "I'm Rachel, and I'll be playing Fantine."

Sam returned her smile. "Ooh, congratulations on getting that part. Nice to meet you," he said before turning next to Kurt.

"And I'm Kurt, the—"

"Oh, so you're our Everard! I remember your name from the cast list."

Kurt chuckled. "Yep, that's me, the guy who landed the girl's part."

"Well, it's good to meet you both. Come on, sit down and we'll introduce everyone else."

Kurt and Rachel sat down in two empty seats next to Sam. Kurt figured they must have gotten there pretty early, as there were only three other cast members present; they went in a circle and introduced themselves.

The first to speak up was a very pretty Hispanic girl. "Hey, I'm Santana. Madame Thénardier, at your service. She looked to the boy sitting next to her, but he was playing on his phone and didn't realize it was his turn. She elbowed him hard in the arm.

The guy winced in pain then looked at her in disbelief. "Ouch! What the hell, Santana?"

She glared at him and pointed toward Kurt and Rachel. "It's your turn, _idioto_! State your name and role!"

He turned toward them. "'Sup, my name's Puck, playing Thénarider," he said with forced politeness. Puck looked back at Santana. "Happy?" He went back to playing with his phone.

Kurt watched the whole scene with quiet amusement. _Oh, wow, they are going to be perfect together…provided they she doesn't kill him before opening night._

"It's nice to meet the two of you," Rachel said, turning to a pretty blonde girl who hadn't spoken yet. "Let me guess…Cosette?" she asked.

"You'd be correct," the girl said, giving a small smile. "My name's Quinn."

"Ah, so you're the one I'll be losing my man to," Kurt joked. Everyone laughed at that; Quinn gave a tiny laugh, and Kurt concluded that she seemed nice enough, but might be a bit standoffish at first.

After the introductions, the six of them continued conversing. They talked about their respective auditions and how much they all loved _Les Misérables_. After they had been talking for a few minutes, Kurt realized that their little group was missing its Jean Valjean, Javert, and Marius. Just then, he heard the doors at the back of the theater shut and looked up to see who had come in. He saw that it was three people, and when he realized that it was the panel that he had auditioned for, he became very excited.

The three issued hellos as they passed the group of actors and made their way up onto the stage. The curly-haired man spoke first.

"Hello, everyone. My name is Will Schuester, the head of the NYU Theater Department. With me is Emma Pillsbury, the costume director for the production and Dustin Goolsby, head of our sponsor organization for this musical, the LGBTQ Society."

The redheaded woman and the man in black, whom Kurt was glad he could now call Emma and Dustin, said hello and waved to everyone. Will started speaking again.

"We're happy to welcome you all to our first meeting of the cast. This isn't—"

He was interrupted by the sound of the auditorium door shutting. Kurt didn't even bother turning around to see who it was. _Late on the first day: way to make an impression._

"Hi, sorry I'm late," said an out-of-breath voice.

"It's quite all right," Will said pleasantly, "we were just getting started. Let's not make it a habit, though."

"Yes, sir," said the voice. "Sorry, again."

"Anyway, for our newcomer, I am Will Schuester, and this is Emma Pillsbury and Dustin Goolsby. Now, what I had started to say was that this first meeting isn't going to be an actual rehearsal. Today is just a day for the cast to meet and get to know each other, to start forming the relationships that will be necessary to have chemistry on stage. This is also a time for you all to get to know us. I imagine those of you who were already here when we arrived have all talked about the roles you'll be playing and have realized that Valjean and Javert are not among you. Well, that is because I will be playing the role of Valjean."

"And I," started Dustin, "will be playing Javert. We know that there are quite a few lesser roles, but for this very first meeting we just wanted to bring together the principal cast.

Kurt was impressed. _These guys must have chops if they're gonna pull off those roles. Wait, if both of them are up there, then that means that Marius, Blaine Anderson, was late. Great, the person I'm going to have the most interaction with… He'd better step up his game._

"Does anyone have any questions?" Will asked.

Sam raised his hand. "Are you playing a role, Emma?"

She laughed lightly and smiled. "Oh no, I'm not nearly as talented as any of the rest of you. I'm just the costume director, but Will is my fiancée, so I guess I'm kind of his second-in-command as well."

Kurt recognized the next voice as the one of the guy who must have been Blaine. "What led to the decision to gender-swap Éponine for Everard?"

"I can answer that," Dustin began. "Will came to me a while back with the idea to do _Les Mis_, but he wanted to do something that would make it different, to make it stand out. I mentioned it at one of our LGBTQ meetings, and one of my officers suggested the gender-swap idea, where men play female roles and vice versa. I thought it was interesting, so I ran the idea by Will. It wasn't too long before we decided that completely gender-swapping the cast could turn the show into a farce, which is not what we wanted. Then we thought about only swapping Cosette, but that didn't seem extremely realistic either. Finally, it hit us that Éponine would be the perfect role to gender-swap: there were gay men in Europe during the 19th century, and some of them might have been in love with their straight best friend. And so, this production was born."

When it was explained, Kurt thought the idea made much more sense. _Plus, I've already got experience being in love with a straight guy. It'll be perfect inspiration for the part._

Dustin's eye then fell right on Kurt. "Which means that Kurt, who we were thrilled to give the role to—even though the rest of you are just as important and will all do fantastic jobs in your parts—is a huge part of this production, and we're very happy to have him."

"So," Will continued. "Again, it seems like everyone already has gotten acquainted. For the young man who came in late please introduce yourself to the rest of your cast members.

Kurt didn't want to seem rude, even though he was still a little annoyed, so he turned around to face the boy who had just stood up to greet everyone. Upon doing so, however, Kurt forgave him for being late instantly. _Guys that good-looking can show up whenever they want._

"Um, hello, everyone," he began awkwardly. "I'm Blaine Anderson, and I'll be playing Marius. I'm really looking forward to working with all of you these next few months." He smiled a perfect Hollywood smile and Kurt thought he was just going to melt into the floor. "Especially our Cosette and Everard," looking straight at Kurt.

Kurt felt a blush rise on his cheeks and gave a small smile back, and said hello along with everyone else. Blaine sat down again.

"Well, now that everyone's name has been thrown out there," Will began again, "we'll let this social time get underway so that Blaine has a chance to meet everyone personally. We brought some refreshments, so you all and help yourselves."

With that, everyone got up and gathered around the stage area where to snacks had been set out. Will, Emma, and Dustin made their rounds and spoke with each cast member, giving encouraging words and raving about their auditions. Kurt and Rachel made their rounds as well, spending a few minutes talking more personally with the other actors. While they were all standing around, Kurt kept stealing glances at Blaine.

In short, he was _incredibly_ attractive. He was wearing a dark blue sweater that that fit him perfectly and red skinny jeans that hugged in _all_ the right places. His skin was nicely tanned and his dark hair would probably have been curly if he didn't have it gelled down. Kurt's daze was broken by the sound of Rachel's voice.

"He is _cute_. How did you get so lucky to work with such a good-looking guy?"

Kurt looked at her and raised his eyebrows suggestively. "Hm, I know. This is going to be a fun process indeed."

The gathering seemed to be wrapping up and everyone started saying goodbyes and see-you-laters. Kurt was just picking up his bag when someone walked up beside him. He turned to look and saw that it was Blaine. At this distance, Kurt could make out the color of his eyes: a light brown, hazel, golden honey color that Kurt thought he could look into for days.

"Hi, you must be Kurt since I've met everyone else." Blaine held out his hand.

Kurt smiled at him. "That's me. It's nice to meet you, Blaine," shaking his hand.

"Again, I'm really thrilled to be working in this production. It's such an interesting concept, and I'm sure that you'll be amazing if they chose you for the part. Like they said, you'll pretty much be the main event."

Kurt blushed. "Well, I don't know about that, but it's definitely an exciting opportunity. Éponine is one of the most popular characters, so I hope people will buy into the whole making-her-a-guy thing."

"Yeah, let's hope so," Blaine laughed. "Well, anyways, we should definitely hang—"

"There you are. I was beginning to think you had left without me," Quinn said as she walked over to Blaine and Kurt.

Blaine looked at her. "Of course not." He looked back to Kurt. "Quinn and I are going out for coffee now. If we're going to play lovers, we should probably get to know each other. Do you want to join us? The three of us are going to be acting together a lot, so we should all get to know each other."

Kurt almost agreed, but then he noticed Quinn flinch a little, her face looking a little disappointed. "Yeah, that would be fun," she said. Kurt could tell it was forced.

"I'd love to, but maybe some other time. Rachel—she and I are roommates—need to get back to our apartment and do some homework." He tried to seem as happy as possible. _Yep, I knew he'd be straight._

"Oh, all right, then," Blaine said. "See you at the next rehearsal."

Blaine and Quinn then turned to walk away. Kurt noticed the way she leaned into him and nonchalantly took hold of his arm as they walked towards the door.

_Crap, this might turn out to be more challenging than I thought._


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: Here it is: Chapter the Third! I apologize for the significantly longer wait since the last chapter was uploaded, but I also noticed significantly less response to Chapter 2 than there was for Chapter 1, I guess that makes us about even. Just remember, the more feedback I receive, the more encouraged I'll be to get another chapter finished :)**

**Anyway, so I have no clue what the typical rehearsal process is for plays or musicals, so if what I have written in this chapter is completely inaccurate, just go with it. Their schedule isn't a key part of the story. There are some lyrics in this chapter, so everybody enjoy the beautiful words!  
**

* * *

The next day was the start of actual rehearsals. After their classes were done for the day, Kurt and Rachel walked to the auditorium together again. Even though quite a few of the main roles don't appear until later in the show—Marius, Enjolras, Everard, and Cosette—Will and Dustin strongly encouraged the actors for those parts to attend all rehearsals so they could be a part of the process and make suggestions if some aspect of the production could perhaps be improved, and also to give them a time to work on their own parts and get feedback on their performance.

When Kurt and Rachel walked into the auditorium, Kurt was stunned for a minute at the number of people filling the space. _I knew there would be a lot of extras, but damn._

The two walked towards the large group standing around the stage. Sam, Quinn, and Santana were already there and talking with some of the other actors. Kurt and Rachel said their hellos and joined in the conversation. The whole room was buzzing with energy and excitement for what was going to happen over the next few weeks.

Kurt was talking to Santana and the guy who was cast as Bamatabois when he noticed that Blaine had just arrived and was setting his things down. He glanced over to where Quinn was standing. She was busy talking to Will and Sam and apparently hadn't seen Blaine come in. Kurt quickly yet politely excused himself from his current conversation and made his way to where Blaine was just approaching the stage. _He might be straight, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't get just as much time to flirt with him as her._

"Look who showed up on time today," Kurt joked with a little laugh.

Blaine smiled. "I know, it's amazing." He looked past Kurt at all of the people on and around the stage. "Geez," he said, eyes widening a bit, "it's packed in here. This is a lot of people for Will and Dustin to manage and direct."

"Yeah, but just think how great all the group songs will sound with so many voices," Kurt responded. "Did you see the 25th anniversary concert? _Brilliant_."

"Oh my God, I know!" Blaine practically yelled, a look of pure glee on his face. "That production pretty much blew my mind!"

Kurt couldn't help but chuckle a bit at Blaine's enthusiasm. _God, could he be any more adorable?_ Kurt suddenly realized that he hadn't verbally responded for a few seconds. "Oh, so how was your coffee date with Quinn? I really wish I could have gone, but I just had too much to do."

"Oh, it was fine," Blaine answered. "She's a really great girl. You should definitely come with us next time. Or maybe you and I can hang out or something."

Kurt was a little taken aback. It wasn't every day that a gorgeous straight guy offered to hang out with him. Hoping he hadn't blushed too brightly, Kurt composed himself again.

"Definitely," Kurt said with a smirk.

Quinn must have noticed that Blaine had arrived, because just then she walked up to them.

"Hi, Blaine," she said, smiling at him from ear to ear. She turned her head to look at Kurt. "Kurt," she said shortly with a little nod. She looked back at Blaine. "So, what are we talking about?"

Blaine returned her smile. "Hey, Quinn. Kurt and I were just talking about hanging out some time or the three of us going out for coffee."

Kurt noticed her little-miss-prefect face turn stiff for a fraction of a second, but she quickly recovered. "Yeah, that sounds fun," she said. "Anyways, you're just in time. Dustin told me we're about ready to start."

Suddenly, Will's voice filled the room. "Attention, everybody! Attention, please!"

All conversation ceased and everyone looked to where Will, Dustin, and Emma were standing towards the right of the stage.

Once he saw all eyes were on him, Will began again. "Welcome, everyone, to our very first official rehearsal for this very special production of one of the very best musicals of all time: _Les Misérables_."

Everyone clapped and cheered and whooped. Will let the noise die down before resuming. "We are happy to have everyone here with us today. Here's basically how this is going to work. We've got exactly six weeks before opening night. That means that everyone has got to be on their A-game if we're going to pull this off successfully. The plan is for rehearsals to follow the order of the show. I would assume that all of you are familiar with your songs, so hopefully we'll be able to get through the whole musical in about two to three weeks so that everyone has their songs down completely. After that, we'll spend the rest of the time tweaking things that need it and rehearsing with the costumes and sets as well. By opening night, we everything should be perfect. As I said, we're following the play, so today we'll be covering the prologue. So, Chain Gang, officers, and Bishop of Digne, please join Dustin and me on stage. Everyone else, I appreciate your being here, and feel free to socialize and rehearse your respective songs."

The stage was promptly cleared of everyone accept those involved in the prologue, and everyone else formed their own little groups throughout the auditorium. Kurt and Rachel grabbed some seats about halfway back from the stage so that they would be able to talk over the music.

"It seems like Will and Dustin certainly have everything very well planned out," Rachel said. "If their getting through the prologue today, that means I'll be the star of tomorrow's rehearsal.

Kurt just rolled his eyes. "Rachel, Fantine is one of the most important characters in the whole show, it really doesn't matter about when you rehearse your scenes."

"Well, in case you didn't hear yesterday," Rachel said pointedly, "_you're_ the star of this production. Forget everyone else, Everard is the big cheese now." She put out her hands and pretended to bow to Kurt.

"Oh, shut up," Kurt said, smiling giving her a little push. "Everyone else's roles are just as important. It's just that in my case it's the most different so I just stand out more my comparison."

They sat there for a minute or two before Santana walked over to them looking pissed off. "Do either of you know where the hell Puck is?"

"Calm down, Santana, I'm here. Don't get your panties all in a bunch." Kurt, Rachel, and Santana all looked to see Puck was just strolling in.

Santana stormed over to him. "Where have you been?"

"I know, I'm supposed to be here even though our scenes aren't being rehearsed for at least a couple of days," he said, putting his hands up in false surrender.

She punched him in the arm and Puck's face contorted with pain. "We're going to start practicing today, actually. This is a big moment for me, and I will be damned if I let you mess this up by not putting in 110%."

"Damn it, San, that hurt! I'm already here, so let's just get started."

With that, the two of them walked off, Santana holding on to Puck's wrist and dragging him behind her as they went to a more quiet area of the auditorium to practice. Once they were out of earshot, Kurt and Rachel broke into a fit of giggles.

"Holy shit," Kurt laughed out. "They couldn't have found a more suitable pairing for the Thénardiers."

Kurt saw Quinn approaching out of the corner of his eye. _Oh, God, what does she want? She's probably going to try to tell me to stay away from Blaine._

"Hey, Kurt," she said when she finally reached him.

Kurt put on his nicest smile. "Oh, hi, Quinn. What's up?"

"Blaine wondered if you wanted to come do some rehearsing with us. I asked him if he wanted to practice "A Heart Full of Love," but he said that we might as well do "In My Life" too since it comes right before, so we'd need you to make that work." She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes.

_God, could this bitch be any faker_. "Oh, sure. I sing in 'A Heart Full of Love' too, actually, so I'm glad we're getting an early start on these songs."

"Oh, yeah, that's right. Éponine does sing in both songs. My bad. The name and gender change thing just has me a little out of sorts." Kurt made a mental note that Quinn was a terrible liar. "Well," she went on, "Blaine is waiting for us out in the lobby."

"All right. See you later Rach," Kurt said as he got up to follow Quinn.

"See you, Kurt," she said waving. She added, "Have fun," with a suggestive edge. Kurt turned his head to look at her and gave her wink.

Out in the lobby, Kurt saw Blaine standing over by the wall looking over some lyric sheets. When he saw them coming he smiled.

"Glad we're all getting started on this together," he said excitedly.

"Me too," Kurt said. "I just realized I haven't heard any of the other cast members sing—well, except for Rachel, but I've known her since high school."

"Well that's about to change. Okay, here we go. Start us off, Quinn."

Kurt and Blaine stood next to each other and Quinn started to sing.

_How strange: this feeling that my life's begun at last.  
This change: can people really fall in love so fast?_

Despite the fact that she hadn't been too friendly with Kurt, he had to admit that the girl could sing. Her voice was airy, but her range was good; she was able to hit the higher notes without any difficulty. They skipped over the part of the song that includes Jean Valjean and moved right into when Marius and Everard show up. Blaine took a deep breath and began his part.

_In my life, she has burst like the music of angels, the light of the sun._

Kurt's breath hitched at the sound of Blaine's silky tenor. He could listen to that sound all day. He could listen to it his whole life and never get tired of it. Luckily Kurt snapped out of his reverie just in time for his part in the song.

_Every word that he says is a dagger in me!  
In my life, there's been no one like him anywhere, where he is.  
If he asked, I'd be his._

Kurt watched Blaine as he sang lines and was pleased at the way his eyebrows shot up in surprise. He was used to people being shocked by his voice and range, but was especially happy with the impact it made on Blaine. Then it was time for them to sing together.

_In my life, there is someone who touches my life…_

Kurt couldn't help but smile at the way his high voice melded so perfectly with Blaine's lower tone. _Yeah, I'm pretty sure there's no way he could be any more perfect._ He finished off the song with its final phrase.

_Waiting here…_

Blaine went right into "A Heart Full of Love" without skipping a beat. Kurt stood by and watched Quinn and Blaine sing to each other. _He's looking at her like she's the greatest thing in the world…oh, the irony of me singing this song with them right now. _He waited until the end of the song so he could sing his part. Finally, they got there and Kurt sang his lines in perfect counterpoint to the other two; he couldn't help but think about how fitting it was for the situation.

_He was never mine to lose.  
Why regret what cannot be.  
These are words he'll never say…_

At last, they reached last line and the three of them hit their respective notes with perfect pitch. When they finished, Blaine was grinning adorably. "Guys, I think it's safe to say we just slayed that song!" He looked right at Kurt. "You're something else, you know that? I think you and Quinn have about the same range," he said with a laugh. "They couldn't have cast a better person for either of your roles."

Quinn played shy and smiled coyly. "Thank you. You're great, too."

Blaine then looked to Kurt again. "You were really getting into it! I looked over while Quinn and I were singing and you looked like someone had just killed your puppy."

Kurt blushed a little bit at that and wasn't sure what to say. _If only you knew…_ "Well, you know, it's good to start getting into character early."

"Amen to that," Blaine said. "Well, for the first day of rehearsals, I'd say we've got that down pretty damn well. I think I'm going back inside to see how the prologue is coming along."

Blaine gave another smile and walked back through the double doors into the auditorium, leaving Kurt and Quinn standing together in an awkward silence. Finally, Kurt decided to be the bigger person and speak up.

"You're very good, Quinn. You've got a lot of talent."

Quinn gave that same attempt at a smile. "Thanks. You too."

"Well," Kurt said, feeling uncomfortable again, "I'm going to find Rachel. This was a great first run," forcing a smile.

Kurt entered the auditorium again and found Rachel sitting exactly where he had left her.

"So, how did it go?" she asked.

"We did very well," Kurt responded, not without a little sharpness.

Rachel picked up on his tone. "Did something happen?"

Kurt just looked forward at the stage where the first day of rehearsals was just wrapping up. "Nope. Nothing at all."

Rachel knew how Kurt was when he got into one of his moods, so she decided to just let him be for the rest of the evening.


End file.
